Bringing Light Into Darkness - News & Analysis

Col. Richard Black on Syrian US Foreign Policy Lies & Betrayal of 9-11 Families

The lies and misrepresentations that led us to unjust sanctions and war in Iraq are relatively well known despite the fact they are largely forgotten. They are largely forgotten because of our media complicity in the failure to keep those important lessons in our rearview window. This failure of journalistic responsibility helped pave the way for the additional unjust US intervention policies regarding Libya and Syria in 2011, that just like in the lead up to the criminal 2003 Iraq invasion, the media, through omission and misrepresentations, once again acted as an invaluable co-conspirator, allowing the repeat of criminal US foreign policy outcomes resulting in the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians while displacing and impoverishing countless millions more. all as an outcome of illegally seeking to overthrow the legitimate governments of both nations.

Tonight, Colonel Richard Black the former conservative VA lawmaker, Vietnam veteran and legal expert who twice visited Syria and Assad in April 2016 and Sept of 2018, and one of the most credible voices of the counter dominant narrative regarding US foreign policy in Libya and Syria explains why he is "appalled at the indecency of US aggression towards Syria" and provides evidentiary observations from his unique Pentagon Intelligence experience that clearly implicates the US as being indispensable to helping and empowering terrorist organizations in Syria, rather than prioritizing the elimination of those responsible for 9-11.

That Assad gassed his own people in 2013; that ‘Assad started the Syrian conflict’ in 2011 by suppressing demonstrations; the impact the 2015 Russian military air war intervention vs the US air war that began a year earlier played in seeking to neutralize al Qaeda forces; and a detailed account of how US and NATO powers funneled thousands of terrorists from all over the world to fight Assad are all addressed in Part I of II by our guest who challenges common deceits generated by a mainstream press in the service of wealth and power rather right vs wrong.

Wealth Inequality & 335,000 Preventable US Covid Related Deaths Caused by our Market Driven Healthcare System (REPLAY from 7/4/22)

Tonight, we replay our show from last week that did not broadcast correctly last week due to technical difficulties. The show focus is on how and why our healthcare system, a system that was unmasked by its response to the Covid 19 pandemic, demonstrated an inability, related to other affluent countries, to reasonably protect our US population from the hard edge of the corona virus pandemic.

Joining Bringing Light Into Darkness tonight is Dr James G. Kahn, emeritus professor of health policy, University of California San Francisco. Leading researcher in the cost and effectiveness of health intervention programs, and in US health care financing reform. He is the Editor and primary blogger, Health Justice Monitor. A new study (June 2022) co authored by our guest, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, has found that between the beginning of the pandemic until mid-March 2022, universal health care could have saved more than 338,000 US lives from Covid-19. The study also calculated that $105.6 billion could have been saved in health care costs associated with Covid hospitalizations. The study demonstrates that a significant share of Covid mortality in the U.S. is “due to our reliance on a system of market-driven health care.” Our healthcare is underperforming in every measurable except one – profiteering- a result of a health system that prioritizes profits over people, particularly poor people. Skipping and delaying seeking healthcare for financial reasons is a feature of our system while we reveal that other developed nations pay less some 50% less yet their population lives longer

Medical debt afflicts 40% of US adults in the US while 25-30 million are uninsured and our number of underinsured is growing each year. This is a problem that that can be fixed as evidenced by dozens of advanced countries that have.

Wealth Inequality & 335,000 Preventable US Covid Related Deaths Caused by our Market Driven Healthcare System (REPLAY from 7/4/22)

Tonight, we replay our show from last week that did not broadcast correctly last week due to technical difficulties. The show focus is on how and why our healthcare system, a system that was unmasked by its response to the Covid 19 pandemic, demonstrated an inability, related to other affluent countries, to reasonably protect our US population from the hard edge of the corona virus pandemic.

Joining Bringing Light Into Darkness tonight is Dr James G. Kahn, emeritus professor of health policy, University of California San Francisco. Leading researcher in the cost and effectiveness of health intervention programs, and in US health care financing reform. He is the Editor and primary blogger, Health Justice Monitor. A new study (June 2022) co authored by our guest, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, has found that between the beginning of the pandemic until mid-March 2022, universal health care could have saved more than 338,000 US lives from Covid-19. The study also calculated that $105.6 billion could have been saved in health care costs associated with Covid hospitalizations. The study demonstrates that a significant share of Covid mortality in the U.S. is “due to our reliance on a system of market-driven health care.” Our healthcare is underperforming in every measurable except one – profiteering- a result of a health system that prioritizes profits over people, particularly poor people. Skipping and delaying seeking healthcare for financial reasons is a feature of our system while we reveal that other developed nations pay less some 50% less yet their population lives longer

Medical debt afflicts 40% of US adults in the US while 25-30 million are uninsured and our number of underinsured is growing each year. This is a problem that that can be fixed as evidenced by dozens of advanced countries that have.

Seeking a Balanced Understanding of the Unfolding Russia-Ukraine Crisis

Investigative journalist Mike Whitney joins Bringing Light Into Darkness to examine and challenge the dominant narrative of unfolding events in Ukraine-

As the G-7 meets this week we will get inundated with how the world must stand up against Russian aggression and get a news presentation of unfolding events in the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the context of a complete absence of the Russian perspective. Tonight we review claims made by Putin on 6/17/22 at the 25th St Petersburg International Economic Forum in which he frames the Russian Ukraine NATO crisis within the larger geopolitical context. He argues the US continues to seek to sustain a unipolar world in which all countries are subservient to US led world economic domination in which a reckless maintenance and expansion of wealth inequality is called promoting democracy. Putin claims new centers of power have emerged, and the unipolar world is over as countries are asserting their right to pursue their own economic-social models, and other sovereign choices. The Ukraine coup and subsequent conflict is about the US led NATO attempt to crush the Russian economy with increasing sanctions, but the result has boomeranged, and it is the European countries majority populations which will face huge losses in their quality of life while their 1/10 of 1 percent political and economic elite will remain unscathed as they seek to protect their privilege.

We highlight the analysis Whitney presents in his 6/15/22 article, Meet the New Boss; Putin Reoutes Critical Hydrocarbons Eastward Leaving Europe High and Dry. Our guest also provides an update on the military status of the conflict.

Dr Nagy 2001 article in the Progressive providing smoking gun evidence of how we targeted Iraq water system in the 1990s’ sanctions along with 1 million dead in Yemen from similar targeting suggests we are ‘projecting’ our immoral behavior onto Russia while we accuse them of civilian targeting without providing proof.

Seeking a Balanced Understanding of the Unfolding Russia-Ukraine Crisis

Investigative journalist Mike Whitney joins Bringing Light Into Darkness to examine and challenge the dominant narrative of unfolding events in Ukraine-

As the G-7 meets this week we will get inundated with how the world must stand up against Russian aggression and get a news presentation of unfolding events in the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the context of a complete absence of the Russian perspective. Tonight we review claims made by Putin on 6/17/22 at the 25th St Petersburg International Economic Forum in which he frames the Russian Ukraine NATO crisis within the larger geopolitical context. He argues the US continues to seek to sustain a unipolar world in which all countries are subservient to US led world economic domination in which a reckless maintenance and expansion of wealth inequality is called promoting democracy. Putin claims new centers of power have emerged, and the unipolar world is over as countries are asserting their right to pursue their own economic-social models, and other sovereign choices. The Ukraine coup and subsequent conflict is about the US led NATO attempt to crush the Russian economy with increasing sanctions, but the result has boomeranged, and it is the European countries majority populations which will face huge losses in their quality of life while their 1/10 of 1 percent political and economic elite will remain unscathed as they seek to protect their privilege.

We highlight the analysis Whitney presents in his 6/15/22 article, Meet the New Boss; Putin Reoutes Critical Hydrocarbons Eastward Leaving Europe High and Dry. Our guest also provides an update on the military status of the conflict.

Dr Nagy 2001 article in the Progressive providing smoking gun evidence of how we targeted Iraq water system in the 1990s’ sanctions along with 1 million dead in Yemen from similar targeting suggests we are ‘projecting’ our immoral behavior onto Russia while we accuse them of civilian targeting without providing proof.

Juneteenth 2022 & the End of Legalized Slavery: But what were the Horrors Therein?

Gun violence alone reduces the life expectancy of Black Americans by four years. Gun homicide (mass shootings, so-called “everyday” violence, and police-involved shootings) is a universal American threat. However, Black Americans are 10 times more likely than White Americans to die from it here well into the 21st century,. Meanwhile, Black youth fare even worse. Black children and teens are 14 times more likely to die from gun homicide than their White counterparts. 2018 data suggest an over 5x higher rate of expected incarceration over their lifetime when comparing blacks to whites males and a 6x higher rate for black women born in 2001, vs white women.

Lance Cooper lives is a historian and attorney and divides his time between researching about historical events, practicing law, writing fiction, and — most recently — producing a podcast focused on Texas slavey. He is a graduate of Baylor University (BA), the University of North Texas (MA), and Texas Tech University (JD). He has written a number of articles related to law and Texas history in scholarly journals. He is also the author of Let My Soul Fly, a novel for kids and adults about slavery in Texas. Also has a powerful podcast called the ‘Other Side of the Story - Slavery in Texas’.

We review and play a potion of his episode exploring a difficult topic -- the physical and emotional brutality faced by enslaved Texans, including the protections white slaveholders were awarded by the Texas 1836 Constitution. Our guest details also the slave economy enforced by colonial powers throughout the hemisphere. And details what it was like to be a slave..

Juneteenth 2022 & the End of Legalized Slavery: But what were the Horrors Therein?

Gun violence alone reduces the life expectancy of Black Americans by four years. Gun homicide (mass shootings, so-called “everyday” violence, and police-involved shootings) is a universal American threat. However, Black Americans are 10 times more likely than White Americans to die from it here well into the 21st century,. Meanwhile, Black youth fare even worse. Black children and teens are 14 times more likely to die from gun homicide than their White counterparts. 2018 data suggest an over 5x higher rate of expected incarceration over their lifetime when comparing blacks to whites males and a 6x higher rate for black women born in 2001, vs white women.

Lance Cooper lives is a historian and attorney and divides his time between researching about historical events, practicing law, writing fiction, and — most recently — producing a podcast focused on Texas slavey. He is a graduate of Baylor University (BA), the University of North Texas (MA), and Texas Tech University (JD). He has written a number of articles related to law and Texas history in scholarly journals. He is also the author of Let My Soul Fly, a novel for kids and adults about slavery in Texas. Also has a powerful podcast called the ‘Other Side of the Story - Slavery in Texas’.

We review and play a potion of his episode exploring a difficult topic -- the physical and emotional brutality faced by enslaved Texans, including the protections white slaveholders were awarded by the Texas 1836 Constitution. Our guest details also the slave economy enforced by colonial powers throughout the hemisphere. And details what it was like to be a slave..

Yemen: A Million Dead in Seven Years of US Supported Saudi led Terror - How Could this Remain Unreported in the US Press for the Entire 7 Years?

Dr. Aisha Jumaan MPH, PhD is an epidemiologist with over 30 years of experience in public health, including viral vaccine preventable diseases, cervical and breast cancer research, surveillance, maternal, child health and nutrition, primary health care, and women in development.

Aisha is currently working with as an Independent Consultant coordinating health-related projects in Yemen and is our guest tonight as she brings Light into the darkness surrounding the US foreiegn policy of promoting Yemen war crimes.

Dr Jumaan details how Yemen is afflicted by two major man-made crises- the targeting of civilian infrastructiore by US supported Saudi aerial bombings and Saudi led US enabled blockade of their economy. The bombings have been targeting Yemen food producing entities as well and have destroyed half of their health facilities

The result is the largest cholera outbreak in world history a return of polio and emergence of diptheria. The most vulnerable are the greatest victims children and elderly. Famine and the threat of famine affect millions and all told, since the initiation of Saudi led US backed daily aerial bombings in March 2015, our guest Dr Jamaan estimates a million Yemenese dead!

Largely the result of war crimes such as the the purposeful destruction of the water facilities and water systems by the Saudi led war and air strikes and the the blockade on the country as Yemen is affected by two major man-made crises both supported by our taxpaying US dollars. Not a peep of news coverage over the past 7 years. What’s up with that? Join us to find out in this wide ranging interview and dialogue with our guest Dr Aisha Jumaan who is with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation.

Yemen: A Million Dead in Seven Years of US Supported Saudi led Terror - How Could this Remain Unreported in the US Press for the Entire 7 Years?

Dr. Aisha Jumaan MPH, PhD is an epidemiologist with over 30 years of experience in public health, including viral vaccine preventable diseases, cervical and breast cancer research, surveillance, maternal, child health and nutrition, primary health care, and women in development.

Aisha is currently working with as an Independent Consultant coordinating health-related projects in Yemen and is our guest tonight as she brings Light into the darkness surrounding the US foreiegn policy of promoting Yemen war crimes.

Dr Jumaan details how Yemen is afflicted by two major man-made crises- the targeting of civilian infrastructiore by US supported Saudi aerial bombings and Saudi led US enabled blockade of their economy. The bombings have been targeting Yemen food producing entities as well and have destroyed half of their health facilities

The result is the largest cholera outbreak in world history a return of polio and emergence of diptheria. The most vulnerable are the greatest victims children and elderly. Famine and the threat of famine affect millions and all told, since the initiation of Saudi led US backed daily aerial bombings in March 2015, our guest Dr Jamaan estimates a million Yemenese dead!

Largely the result of war crimes such as the the purposeful destruction of the water facilities and water systems by the Saudi led war and air strikes and the the blockade on the country as Yemen is affected by two major man-made crises both supported by our taxpaying US dollars. Not a peep of news coverage over the past 7 years. What’s up with that? Join us to find out in this wide ranging interview and dialogue with our guest Dr Aisha Jumaan who is with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation.

How Double-Standards at the UN Combine with Disproportionate Western Influence in World Lending Agencie to Subvert rather than Promote Democracy

Alfred-Maurice de Zayas is a Cuban-born American lawyer and writer, active in the field of human rights and international law joins Bringog Light Intp Drkness to discuss the insights he has developed over the past 40 years of working for the United Nations as an international law expert.

Mr. de Zayas has been in the UN system for more than four decades as a senior staff person and attorney with the High Commission on Human Rights including as United Nations Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order (2012–2018)

Other UN positions include working as a consultant once he took retirement and also as a rapporteur for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is the leading United Nations entity in the field of human rights, with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people.

Please join us tonight as we review his recent article Double-Standards at the UN Human Rights Council, published 5/17/22 in Counterpunch. Mr de Zayas details hpw the UN Human Rights Council essentially serves the interests of the Western developed countries’ elite and in doing so creates a second class status for the rect of the world’s majority populations when it comes to the promotion and protection of human rights. Our guest describes how blackmail and bullying are common practices, and the US has proven that it has sufficient “soft power” to control weaker countries. The leaders of these countries get to join the club if they abandon the illusion of sovereignty and service totheir majority population interests and are rewarded accordingly by being called “democratic”. Learn about the politics that drive UN outcomes and the reality, despite the false image, that only major powers can afford to have their own opinions and to vote accordingly.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 6/6/2022 [email protected]

If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Malcolm X